Everest Untold

Everest Untold Sunday 31 July at 7.30pm Held at the Old Lodge Theatre Tickets $20 Engrossing homage to epic expedition – Arts on Tour NZ tours ‘Everest Untold’ – July 2016 Part climbing experience, part history lesson and part personal revelation, Everest Untold gives “…the untold story all New Zealanders should know” about the 1953 Everest expedition in which Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay reached the summit of Mt Everest. Written by Gareth Davies and produced by Ffynroc Productions, the touring play features Stephen Lovatt as Everest expedition leader Sir John Hunt, and Edwin Wright as ‘the other Kiwi’ - Hawkes Bay born George Lowe. Through this partnership, Davies reveals stories of sheer grit, determination and ambition in a dangerously inhospitable environment. For British Army Colonel Sir John Hunt, it’s all about the grand plan: For Lowe, experienced climber, schoolmaster with a can-do attitude, it’s all about the men. We also learn of the other men in the expedition – a physicist, geologist, doctor, cameraman, mountaineers and, of course, the Nepalese Sherpas. The play explores the cultural differences and divides, but also the passion to climb that all the members share. “This is a play truly for New Zealanders and New Zealand’s reputation abroad…I can’t tell you how informative it is, how entertaining it is and what a great evening it was at the theatre.” Raymond Hawthorne, O.N.Z.M. “…the ebb and flow of conversation …..is a perfectly pitched rhythm. They chat and babble over each other at times, then allow the ‘elephants in the room’ to breathe in knowing silence, maintaining absolute outward credibility in situ while allowing us to see their inner processing.” Kate Ward-Smythe, Theatreview